By Roxanne Reid
Imagine you’re on an 8000-kilometre road trip. Now imagine the worst thing that could happen. (Okay, the worst thing after death or life-threatening illness.) Now you’re getting it: vehicle problems. Because without that vehicle there ain’t gonna be no more road trip. So wait till you hear why Land Rover Mokopane rocks.
Imagine you’re on an 8000-kilometre road trip. Now imagine the worst thing that could happen. (Okay, the worst thing after death or life-threatening illness.) Now you’re getting it: vehicle problems. Because without that vehicle there ain’t gonna be no more road trip. So wait till you hear why Land Rover Mokopane rocks.
We were about halfway through our journey and having a blast. Then one morning we set out along a dirt road in Limpopo, not far from Marakele National Park. Whoa! What had happened to that famous ‘smooth ride’ of the Land Rover Discovery 4? It was gone in a puff of dust and had sailed off over the white blossoms of the knoppiesdoring trees.
What we had instead was a mini rollercoaster, a bucking bronco sure to beat even hardened cowboys in the roughest rodeo. The tiniest corrugations or mini-potholes in the road set up a chain reaction that rocked the car back and forth with frightening momentum. Anything over 40 or 50km/h was just asking for trouble.
When you enjoy road trips to the back of beyond, as we do, there’s a fair chance you won’t find an official Land Rover service agent on the nearest corner, next to the God is Able Grocer Shop or the Last Hope Bicycle Repair kiosk. So it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the nearest one was in Mokopane, only 180km away. On the phone they said it sounded as though it might be a suspension problem, so they’d hold their horses and wait for us to rock and roll into town.
The challenge was going to be keeping that bucking bronco under control on a 180km trip. At a top speed of 50km, things didn’t start well. A shocking gravel road and a bad tar road for the first stretch didn’t help. But then the tar evened out, things improved a little and we finally limped into Mokopane at around three in the afternoon.
What we had instead was a mini rollercoaster, a bucking bronco sure to beat even hardened cowboys in the roughest rodeo. The tiniest corrugations or mini-potholes in the road set up a chain reaction that rocked the car back and forth with frightening momentum. Anything over 40 or 50km/h was just asking for trouble.
When you enjoy road trips to the back of beyond, as we do, there’s a fair chance you won’t find an official Land Rover service agent on the nearest corner, next to the God is Able Grocer Shop or the Last Hope Bicycle Repair kiosk. So it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the nearest one was in Mokopane, only 180km away. On the phone they said it sounded as though it might be a suspension problem, so they’d hold their horses and wait for us to rock and roll into town.
The challenge was going to be keeping that bucking bronco under control on a 180km trip. At a top speed of 50km, things didn’t start well. A shocking gravel road and a bad tar road for the first stretch didn’t help. But then the tar evened out, things improved a little and we finally limped into Mokopane at around three in the afternoon.
Land Rover Mokopane's Corné Grobler (left) and Anna-Mart Maré are more than service manager and service advisor; they're the friendly, caring angels you want on your team when you have problems with your Land Rover
Some inspecting and poking about later, Land Rover mechanic Barend Heynie reported that they needed to disconnect the battery and leave the suspension to settle overnight, to diagnose exactly where the problem lay. So now we were in Mokopane in the late afternoon, with a car full of stuff and nowhere to go. We’d planned to camp at Marakele that night, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen.
‘Can you recommend a place around here we can hire a car for the night?’ we asked.
There was a general shaking of heads. Mokopane, it seemed, didn’t have such a thing. But Land Rover service manager Corné Grobler and service advisor Anna-Mart Maré made two quick phone calls, then announced with a smile that they’d supply a fully functioning Disco 4 so driver Johannes Mapoga could take us back to my brother’s farm 180km away. All we had to do was pay for the fuel.
Service advisor and manager, my foot; they were angels and we couldn’t thank them enough. We’d been stressed and disheartened when we arrived but we left happy, feeling that they cared and our vehicle was in good hands. And the capable Johannes, bless him, didn’t seem even vaguely put out that his round trip meant he’d only get home at about 8:30 that evening.
‘Can you recommend a place around here we can hire a car for the night?’ we asked.
There was a general shaking of heads. Mokopane, it seemed, didn’t have such a thing. But Land Rover service manager Corné Grobler and service advisor Anna-Mart Maré made two quick phone calls, then announced with a smile that they’d supply a fully functioning Disco 4 so driver Johannes Mapoga could take us back to my brother’s farm 180km away. All we had to do was pay for the fuel.
Service advisor and manager, my foot; they were angels and we couldn’t thank them enough. We’d been stressed and disheartened when we arrived but we left happy, feeling that they cared and our vehicle was in good hands. And the capable Johannes, bless him, didn’t seem even vaguely put out that his round trip meant he’d only get home at about 8:30 that evening.
It might look unassuming, but pulling up in front of Land Rover Mokopane's service entrance was one of the best decisions of our 8000km road trip
The next morning Anna-Mart was on the phone first thing, reporting that the problem – a broken pump – had been identified and a replacement part ordered from Polokwane. It should be there soon. By midday she phoned to say the car was fixed and waiting to be collected.
Fast, efficient, friendly service – what more can you ask for? Well, a mechanic who fixes all your other problems, of course!
‘Is there anything else bothering you?’ Barend chirped before handing over the vehicle. And within a matter of minutes, he’d fixed the niggling problem with the window and the rattling tailgate that was loose – something that Land Rover N1 City, which services the car, had twice told us couldn’t be adjusted.
‘Anything else?’
We mentioned that the fog lights didn’t work. When the car had been serviced at N1 City a month earlier, in preparation for our road trip, the mechanic couldn’t find the fault. We were told to bring the car in again when we got back to Cape Town because he’d have to remove the bumper to trace the fault. Barend slid under the car, noted that the plug connectors were undone, shoved them together and it was fixed in 10 seconds flat.
So, thank you to the smiling rock stars of Land Rover Mokopane – Corné Grobler, Anna-Mart Maré, Barend Heynie and Johannes Mapoga – for making our big problem into a small one. I hope you get this year’s Land Rover service award because you richly deserve it.
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
Fast, efficient, friendly service – what more can you ask for? Well, a mechanic who fixes all your other problems, of course!
‘Is there anything else bothering you?’ Barend chirped before handing over the vehicle. And within a matter of minutes, he’d fixed the niggling problem with the window and the rattling tailgate that was loose – something that Land Rover N1 City, which services the car, had twice told us couldn’t be adjusted.
‘Anything else?’
We mentioned that the fog lights didn’t work. When the car had been serviced at N1 City a month earlier, in preparation for our road trip, the mechanic couldn’t find the fault. We were told to bring the car in again when we got back to Cape Town because he’d have to remove the bumper to trace the fault. Barend slid under the car, noted that the plug connectors were undone, shoved them together and it was fixed in 10 seconds flat.
So, thank you to the smiling rock stars of Land Rover Mokopane – Corné Grobler, Anna-Mart Maré, Barend Heynie and Johannes Mapoga – for making our big problem into a small one. I hope you get this year’s Land Rover service award because you richly deserve it.
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
